Not to be typecast as a moderately customized truck, Mark Remling's Chevy Blazer is cool in a different sense. To appreciate this masterpiece, you must take a moment to step back from the stereotypical ideas of radically built trucks. Even though it's not planted down to the pavement, it holds its own as a rolling piece of artwork. Once you see that it goes beyond what a true automotive buff would like, Mark's talents begin to shine.
Though he's not your normal truck guy, Mark is more like an artist looking for a new medium. His skill for art is definitely in the blood because at the young age of 1-1/2, he was already putting down rough sketches of people. He had an early talent, but he didn't truly follow through with it immediately. As he grew older and looked for a means to make a living for himself, he used his art abilities in cabinetry and construction.
From there, it was a struggle between doing what he liked to do and making ends meet. That's when Mark got his break as he tried out for an airbrushing gig at a T-shirt and leather jacket store. After that, he realized that this was what he wanted to do for a living, and he did whatever it took to make it happen.
While working the airbrushing job, Mark met up with Dave Monnig of Coast Airbrush in Anaheim, California. Dave sent him a package of his budget-quality House of Kolor airbrushing paint kits. Once Mark tested out these paints, he was hooked and wanted to do nothing else than to paint on bikes and vehicles with the new materials. Though he can airbrush fine pieces of art, now he can better sell his work by customizing people's rides. As he sees it, his customers are more willing to pay for his services on vehicles than on a piece of art made to sit on a wall.
At the time, Mark already owned a Blazer, and it started to smoke, making him nervous. His solution was to trade it in for a newer version to get him around. Also, at that time, he witnessed some Japanese guys doing 30-minute bodywork. He saw what they were doing with trucks and wanted to do something like that to his truck. His concept was to customize a truck to be more like a rolling gallery to host his work. To make a bigger canvas to host his artwork, he decided that he would shave the rear doors and windows shut.
After a while in the sun, the tack-welded panels over the windows shrunk and the Blazer needed to be redone. Mark had the truck fixed and then came up with the futuristic underwater paint theme to reflect his skill of marine painting. Now Mark Remling, the owner of Blasted (his shop dedicated to custom paintwork), has the perfect vehicle to showcase and help him sell his work. While it is different from most trucks in the scene, it is cool for what it really is-a rolling piece of art.